School Shootings - What Have We Learned?by Captain Jim Olsen

​One of the plaques on the wall at the Columbine High School Memorial has a quote that reads:​ “It brought the nation to its knees, but now that we have gotten back up how have things changed; what have we learned?”.

Well, what have we learned?

Captain Jim Olsen

​​Since responding to Columbine High School, I also responded to the shooting at Arapahoe High School, also in our fire jurisdiction. My two girls had been out of Deer Creek Middle School for a couple of years when the shooting occurred there in 2010. And Deer Creek had a previous school shooting in 1982. When I want to get away and go fly fishing, one of my new favorite spots is a public access point a mile or so upstream from Platte Canyon High School. The Columbine and Arapahoe shooting incidents were both in our fire jurisdiction. Our personnel responded to the other two on mutual aid. This past December, two teen girls were arrested and charged for allegedly planning a school shooting at Mountain Vista High School, also in our jurisdiction. I’ve had the fortune to meet and talk to teachers or first responders from the incidents in Bethel Alaska, Moses Lake Oregon, Paducah Kentucky and Lancaster Pennsylvania.

So I ask again, what have we learned?​ Regrettably, I’ve learned that we are getting good at response, but not at prevention. We need to become good at both! School shooting incidents will unfortunately continue.

How do we prepare?First, the belief that “It won’t happen here” needs to be quashed. Ask Bethel, Lancaster, Roseburg, Sandy Hook or Littleton. No one believed it would happen there. School districts, EMS agencies, fire districts and law enforcement can’t plan in isolation. Multijurisdictional collaboration is a necessity. Active shooter, or active killer planning, training and exercises involving all disciplines are critical to the successful prevention of, or response to, an active threat.

Let’s start with prevention.​There appears to be two types of school attacks. Those attacks carried out by current students, such as occurred at Columbine and Arapahoe High Schools. And those perpetrated by outside intruders as seen at Deer Creek and Platte Canyon. And remember that there is a difference between a ‘school shooting’ and a ‘shooting that happens in a school’.

​Potential threats by current students may be the easiest to identify. I’m not a psychologist, so I’m not going to attempt to guess what drives people to this sort of violence. I’ll leave that to the experts in the field. But often, students are aware of comments made by fellow students or threatening attitudes that may develop. Because of peer pressure, students often are reluctant to report other students unless they know for sure that they are planning something. Students often don’t want to be known as the one who turned a fellow student in. Anonymous “Safe 2 Tell” types of reporting systems are an effective method of reporting that have successfully identified potential problems. We must break down the barriers that keep students from reporting potential threats and let them know it is ok to report concerns. Threats by unrelated outside intruders are very difficult and often impossible to identify and prevent.

The key to identification of threats from current students seems to be the sharing of information and behaviors that help to identify the issue before it becomes a threat. This involves parents, friends and students all being alert for changes in behavior, threatening comments or attitudes.

​How do the teachers report a potential threat?​One teacher may see a behavior in a student that raises a little concern, but doesn’t connect it with a potential threat. But when combined with observations from other teachers or staff, does it raise enough concern for intervention? Does it rise to the level of a potential threat? Or is it ignored because no one connects the seemingly unrelated dots or there is no process to connect them? Does the school have a procedure or policy to share that information while still protecting the student’s privacy?

​School Resource Officers, or SROs can be a great prevention asset. They can develop relationships with students that let the students feel free to relay information about potential threats. To be effective, the SROs should strive to be part of the school community. I met one SRO that was also a wrestling coach in the school. He said it helped to break down barriers between SROs and students. SROs are also an important asset in a quick response to neutralize an active shooter in a school. The most effective SROs portray a sense of friendship and trust to the students.

How do we prepare for response? ​A common plan of how the unified command system will work between the schools, EMS, fire and law enforcement must be designed. Then test it in a tabletop or functional exercise. Does your local hospital system have a surge plan capable of handling numerous critical patients? Get to know your resources, partners and their capabilities.

​Schools need to train on and practice Lock Downs and Lock Outs. Outside threats should never be allowed to get in. Are exterior doors locked while the school is in session with a designated and secure entry point? Do teachers and staff know how to lock down students in their classrooms? Does the Lock Down plan assume that all students are in a classroom? Does the plan take into consideration students in the cafeteria, gym, playground, bathrooms or auditorium? Do substitute teachers know the plan? Is it practiced? Twice a year should be the minimum standard. If classes need to evacuate, where do they go? Is there a nearby building or safe area designated as a ‘rally point”?

Many public and private school still post their floor plans on a public Internet site. I’ve never seen the true purpose of this other than to give outsiders the detailed layout of the school. Students are usually familiar with the school in the first few days of attendance and shouldn’t need Internet plans.

​Is there a plan or communication system to let the parents know where to go to reunite with their students? ​The last thing a school needs in a crisis it to have hundreds of parents descend on the school to get or to ‘rescue’ their child. Mass text message and phone notification systems can work well, but only if set up properly and tested in advance.

Other considerations need to be looked at. Does the school have a camera security system?​If so, is it being monitored? A camera system that is not being monitored is simply a documentation device to show what happened. It won’t prevent anything or aid responders get to the areas where they need to go. Ideally, the cameras should be able to be monitored from a remote location such as outside in a command post via the Internet or another system as well as in the school. Incoming first responders should be able to gain access to the camera system through a secured Internet or through school personnel at the command post.

​Do the first responders know exactly what they are responding to? ​At Arapahoe High School a school security officer and the SRO were responding within the school to the active shooter while our fire department responded to a report of a structure fire. The fire had been ignited by the shooter in the library. It wasn’t until our first fire units arrived and prepared to enter that the initial crew learned that it was an active shooter incident. And how would your police and fire respond to an active shooter incident with classes on lock down AND a fire inside?

​How do fire and EMS work with law enforcement on active shooter incidents?I never would have believed that fire personnel would be issued ballistic vests and helmets for every fire engine and ambulance/medic unit and that they would be trained as parts of ‘rescue task forces’…trained to enter with law enforcement on active shooter events to rescue and extract victims. But that’s now becoming the norm in Colorado’s metro areas. How are your first responders being trained, equipped and prepared?

​School shooting incidents are a communication disaster.Plan on every student and parent attempting to call or text on his or her cell phone. A thousand active cell phones will quickly overwhelm any cell system. Can all of the responding agencies communicate on a common set of radio channels? Have responders trained and tested that system? Can police and fire radios communicate with school radios?

​“It won’t happen here” is an attitude that will leave schools and emergency responders woefully unprepared.When I was growing up in California, we had Duck and Cover drills for nuclear attacks and earthquake drills. Now Lock Out, Lock Down and Run, Hide, Fight drills and training are becoming the norm. Since Columbine High School, there have been far too many school shootings reported! Over 170 listed by one Wikipedia website.

A recent story by Denver’s KUSA brought to light the fact that 25% of Colorado schools do not address active shooters in their emergency plans, despite several separate school shooting incidents in Colorado since 1999. The attitude and belief that “It won’t happen here” is an attitude that will leave schools and emergency responders woefully unprepared. Please consider the points that I have raised above. Now is the time to contact your partner agencies, plan together and prepare.​Complacency is not acceptable.

“Safety and security don’t just happen; they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear.”~ Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa